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Restricting speech on the road to utopia
by Scott Gilbreath ~ November 4th, 2008
Chronicle Herald columnist Paul Schneidereit heard Nova Scotia Human Rights Commission director and CEO Krista Daley speak at both free speech discussions held in Halifax in recent days. Like Ezra Levant, he is deeply troubled by Ms Daley’s belief that Canada’s human rights bureaucracies are on the side of the angels.
In Daley’s world, based on her comments at two debates on human rights bodies and free speech last week, commissions are engaged in the good fight, a struggle – one case at a time – towards an ideal, “utopian world” where hatred doesn’t exist and everyone enjoys equal respect for and protection of all their rights.
In my universe, however, using the world “utopia” to describe any kind of policy goal is a bell-clanging, red light-flashing warning to be very wary about the means proposed to get “there.”
I’m all for trying to make the world a better place. But let’s remember two things. One, mankind is imperfect, so utopia is unreachable. Two, in our zeal to get there anyway, people have wrought terrible damage throughout history.
Amen to that. The road to hell is paved with good intentions.
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November 4th, 2008 at 09:19 PM
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November 5th, 2008 at 03:56 PM
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